Ati 4850 with GRID

[zod96]

Newegg has got the HIS and MSI 4850 for $180 with a free game GRID and a $20 rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161235

 

[tuteja1986]

MSI for better warranty.

 

[taltamir]

I would wait a week or two for the improved fan models to be in stock / hit the market. Asus and sapphire already have one, but only with extra ram or an OC (making it more expensive). But they and others will most likely soon start selling them at stock speed and price with an improved fan (which will OC well as well)

 

[AmberClad]

Been having fun with this game the past week. Just a heads up to Vista users though, especially those without autoupdates enabled -- make sure SP1 is installed. Here's a note from the GRID site:

xi) Very poor performance using high graphical settings on Vista:

On Windows Vista, if you have not installed the recommended Service Pack 1 patch, you may experience poor performance when running on a high-end card, at high resolutions and detail levels. To fix this, you must install Microsoft?s SP1 patch, available online from Microsoft?s Download Center: www.microsoft.com/downloads (search for ?Vista Service Pack 1?). In the near future, the patch will also be available through the Windows Update service.

I ran into this issue quite a bit before installing SP1 if I had multisampling enabled. Basically, you do a few races and everything runs at a brisk pace -- then you do another race and all of sudden hit an inexplicable and massive slowdown where everything, even the menus, lag. So far so good with SP1 :thumbsup:.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
Been having fun with this game the past week. Just a heads up to Vista users though, especially those without autoupdates enabled -- make sure SP1 is installed. Here's a note from the GRID site:

xi) Very poor performance using high graphical settings on Vista:

On Windows Vista, if you have not installed the recommended Service Pack 1 patch, you may experience poor performance when running on a high-end card, at high resolutions and detail levels. To fix this, you must install Microsoft?s SP1 patch, available online from Microsoft?s Download Center: www.microsoft.com/downloads (search for ?Vista Service Pack 1?). In the near future, the patch will also be available through the Windows Update service.

I ran into this issue quite a bit before installing SP1 if I had multisampling enabled. Basically, you do a few races and everything runs at a brisk pace -- then you do another race and all of sudden hit an inexplicable and massive slowdown where everything, even the menus, lag. So far so good with SP1 :thumbsup:.

Interesting, did you have the pre-SP1 hot fixes installed also and still have this problem? Like the virtual memory and 2GB ones from Aug/Sep? I don't recall SP1 explicitly mentioning any new graphics/memory hot fixes that weren't released prior. Good to know though.

I may have to pick this game up. Graphics seem really good and a lot of people seem to enjoy it. What kind of controls are you using though? Not sure if I want to drop $100-200 on a wheel set-up and KB/mouse don't really do it for me with racing sims. Game pad might be OK....but still not as immersive as wheel/pedals.

 

[zod96]

No worries their I'm using Xp wouldn't touch vista if my life depended on it

 

[AzN]

It's not that bad with a game pad but the wheel would be better. Gamepad controls is way too sensitive.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: chizow
Interesting, did you have the pre-SP1 hot fixes installed also and still have this problem? Like the virtual memory and 2GB ones from Aug/Sep? I don't recall SP1 explicitly mentioning any new graphics/memory hot fixes that weren't released prior. Good to know though.

I actually did a clean reinstall maybe a month back -- don't recall if I installed the hotfixes this time around. I had been putting off reinstalling SP1 because the shutdown + restart takes a while and I figured it wasn't too important anyhow .

Originally posted by: chizow
I may have to pick this game up. Graphics seem really good and a lot of people seem to enjoy it. What kind of controls are you using though? Not sure if I want to drop $100-200 on a wheel set-up and KB/mouse don't really do it for me with racing sims. Game pad might be OK....but still not as immersive as wheel/pedals.

I use a gamepad for PC racing games actually -- Saitek Cyborg Rumble. It looks similar to the XBOX 360 gamepad, but the DPad and left analog stick positions can be physically swapped for either XBOX or Playstation configuration.

The gamepad works well enough -- I've finished the singleplayer mode using it. I'm kind of weighing getting a wheel+pedal set though, just to get more out of the experience. Logitech MOMO is not too expensive. I just don't like having a lot of bulky game controllers taking up space.

 

[taltamir]

yea, there were some special hot fixes that were made available, but NOT released on auto update for bugs in vista. SP1 actually integrated all of them into the OS.
Then again, like windows XP, there is absolutely NO reason to run the gold version, SP1 at a minimum. (I told everyone to keep to win2k until XP SP1, same for vista, MS just likes releasing incomplete operating systems)

 

[Krynj]

I just got GRiD yesterday. Tons of fun. Codemasters makes the best racing games.

Now if my teammate would just starting winning races, or at least, coming in 2nd if I finish 1st.

 

[AmberClad]

Try using Tom Rockford -- he's done great as my partner. I've actually had to bump and block him quite a few times to keep him from taking #1 from me . His hiring fee is $240,000 and he keeps 65% of his of earnings, so he's not cheap. But he does pretty well most races. If you've got some of the better sponsors -- off the top of my head, Bridgestone, Castrol, AMD, Acer, and Reuters are some of the higher paying ones -- you still make a decent amount of money off of him.

On a sidenote - one wonders how AMD has the money to be doing product placements in games like this. I'm surprised Intel didn't pay for a placement in GRID, since they've got their BMW Sauber F1 ads plastered everywhere online.

 

[zod96]

I get the game on tuesday with my new HIS 4850 can't wait to try the full version. I've been playing the demo and its loads of fun. I really want to see how the F1 cars do..

 

[bryanW1995]

msi has a better warranty than his?

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
I use a gamepad for PC racing games actually -- Saitek Cyborg Rumble. It looks similar to the XBOX 360 gamepad, but the DPad and left analog stick positions can be physically swapped for either XBOX or Playstation configuration.

The gamepad works well enough -- I've finished the singleplayer mode using it. I'm kind of weighing getting a wheel+pedal set though, just to get more out of the experience. Logitech MOMO is not too expensive. I just don't like having a lot of bulky game controllers taking up space.

Ya I know exactly what you mean....*Steel Battalion flashback*. I've looked at some of the wheel/pedal set-ups also but I've used my MS Sidewinder FF maybe 3x since I bought it and that kinda stuff does take up a lot of space and collect dust. Not sure if it'd be worth it for one game.... I'll probably check it out with a gamepad first and see how that goes.

 

[AmberClad]

Heh, that Steel Battalion controller was crazy big. I also have no idea how you'd manage it without being ambidextrous. They really went all out with that one, but I figure something similar to the Saitek X52 would be a much more reasonable solution - compact and modular.

What I'd really like to see is a racing wheel set that you can partially disassemble for storage. Also, something without a huge base for the wheel and pedals.